Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/904

 548 FRANCE : — ANNAM — COCHIN-CHINA

In 1893-96 about 110,000 square miles of Siam to the east of the Mekong was annexed by France. [See Siam.]

In 1887 the French possessions in Indo-China, inchiding Annam, Tonking, and Cambodia, were united into a Customs Union. Imports from French Indo-China into France, 1897 :— General, 23,215,493 francs ; special, 21,880,344 francs. Exports from France to French Indo-China : — General, 38,557,399 francs ; special, 30,733,918 francs.

ANNAM.

French intervention in the affairs of Annam, which began as early as 1787, was terminated by a treaty, signed on June 6, 1884, and ratified at line on February 23, 1886, by which a French protectorate has been estab- lished over Annam. Prince Buu Lam was proclaimed King on January 31, 1889, under the title of Thanh Thai. The ports of Turane, Qui-Nhon, and Xuan Day are opened to European commerce, and the customs revenue con- ceded to France ; French troops occupy part of the citadel (called Mang-Ca) of Hue, the capital (population 30,000). Annamite functionaries, under the control of the French government, administer all the internal affairs of Annam. The area of the protectorate is about 81,042 square miles, with a population estimated at 2,000,000 by some, and at 6,000,000 by others ; the latter being considered the more probable. It is Annamite in the towns and along the coast, and consists of various tribes of Moi's in the hilly tracts. There are 420,000 Roman Catholics. In Annam and Tonking there are 23,370 troops, of whom 14,500 are natives. The productions are rice, maize and other cereals, the areca nut, mulberry, cinnamon, tobacco, sugar, betel, manioc, bamboo, excellent timber, also caoutchouc, and dye, and medicinal plants. Raw silk is produced, and coarse crape and earthenware are manufactured. There are iron, copper, zinc, and gold in the province of Quang-nam ; the mines are worked by natives. At Nho-Lam 120 primitive furnaces turn out 120 lbs. of iron a day in bars. The chief imports are cotton -yarn, cottons, tea, petroleum, paper goods, and tobacco ; chief exports, sugar and cinnamon. There entered, in 1896 (including junks) 260 vessels of 105,178 tons, and cleared 352 of 113,561 tons.

CAMBODIA.

Area, 46,000 square miles; population about 1,500,000, consisting of several indigenous races, 40,000 Malays, 250,000 Chinese and Annamites. The country is under King Norodom, who recognised the French protectorate in 1863, and it is divided into 57 provinces The two chief towns are Pnom- penh (population 50,000), the capital of the territory, and Kam})ot, a seaport, ])ut not accessible for sea-going vessels. The budget for 1898 was fixed at 2,523,000 Mexican dollars, including a sum of 415,200 Mexican dollars allowed for the civil list of the king and princes. The chief culture is rice, betel, tobacco, indigo, sugar tree, and silk tree, pepper, maize, cinnamon, coffee. There are important factories at Khsach-Kandal, near Pnom-Penh, for the shelling of cotton seeds. The external trade is carried on mostly through Saigon in Cochin -China. The imports comprise salt, wine, textiles, arms ; the exports comprise salt fish, cotton, tobacco, rice. The trade statistics are included in those of Indo-China.

COCHIN-CHINA.

The area of French Cochin-China is estimated at 23,000 square miles. The whole is divided into 4 provinces, Saigon, Mytho, Vinh-Long, and Bassac ; and these into 21 arrondissements The colony is represented by